Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
NEWLY-ELECTED Bulawayo councillors have demanded to be furnished with the contract between the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and the parking management system partner Tendy Three Investments (TTI) while also ordering the latter to avail proof of centres in South Africa where they claimed to have effected similar services.
The parking management system has since its implementation in February last year been subject to debate with motorists and Bulawayo residents questioning the charges and also the revenue sharing ratio where TTI gets 70 percent of revenue collected and the local authority getting 30 percent.
Ahead of his election as councillor for ward four and subsequently the city’s Mayor, Councillor David Coltart had reiterated the need to relook into the parking management system tender saying, from the outside they were a lot of irregularities surrounding the tender.
According to the latest council report, councillors have since demanded that they be availed with the original contract and for TTI to also provide their audited accounts for the year ending 31 December 2022.
With TTI top official Councillor Mellissa Mabeza declaring interest and recusing herself from the meeting during consideration of the matter, the councillors noted that it was proper for the committee to have access to the contract so that it would be able to defend itself.
Clr Mabeza was elected under the Proportional Representation quota and is also the TTI human resources manager.
“The matter was considered and Councillor Sarah Cronje sought clarity on the contract between council and TTI. She further enquired about the company which was responsible for auditing the TTI’s accounts.
“Clr Mpumelelo Moyo highlighted that for transparency and accountability purposes, there was a need for the finance and development committee to go over the contract. Having the contract would assist in making informed decisions and also address pressing issues from concerned residents,” reads the report.
The councillors said there was a need for the contract to be availed to councillors as a matter of urgency as some issues were operational and not structural.
“Clr Anorld Batirai noted with concern that there was no transparency citing that most of the money was being remitted directly to TTI instead of being paid at the Revenue Hall. He further noted that the receipts were neither serialised nor computerised.
“There was also a need to clarify what exactly the company would transfer to council at the end of the contract period, as this was a build, operate and transfer. At this stage it was not clear what the counterpart was indeed building that would be transferred to council,” reads the report.
Clr Coltart on the hand highlighted that the 70 percent is to 30 percent profit split could only be understood if the finance and development committee had an appreciation of the expenses incurred by the company.
“He (Clr Coltart) proposed that by the end of September the contract should have been availed to the committee. He requested for a workshop which would also incorporate the officials from TTI.
“It was thus resolved to recommend that council requests for TTI, South Africa with any of the South African centres where it provided the similar services, that the company provides management accounts up to end of August 2023, that the parking management contract be shared with the members of the committee, that the company provides audited accounts for the year ending 31 December 2022 and that a workshop be conducted by mid-October,” reads the report.
Online Reporter